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  • Adj.

abstemious

ab-STEE-mee-uhs

Context
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Helga’s abstemious lifestyle kept her from ordering the double chocolate cake at dinner—or any other dessert for that matter. In an abstemious effort to eat in a moderate fashion, Helga enjoyed the baked chicken and fresh fennel salad, but rejected the sugary desserts as well as the deep-fried appetizers. Likewise, her abstemious habits kept her from drinking anything but water with her dinner. Such abstemious, self-denying, and cautious dining practices seemed extreme to a friend or two of hers, but they did keep Helga healthy.

Quiz: What is an example of abstemious behavior?

  • Refusing to call someone back out of spite.
  • Having a small piece of dessert at a party.
  • Sleeping for fourteen or fifteen hours every day.
Definition

Memory Hook
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Stemming Us If we are abstemious, we stem the tide of too much food and drink filling us up.

Examples
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  • Taken together, they describe a young businessman who was both exceptionally driven and entirely abstemious, one who always preferred to reinvest his earnings rather than enjoy them. — The Atlantic
  • An abstemious eater, she fasted on Fridays, a practice she learned from her father Ben Ross. — NPR

Word Ingredients
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abs- away, from
tem alcoholic drink
-ious of the nature of

One is being abstemious when one is of the nature of keeping alcoholic drinks away or from oneself.

Word Constellation
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Abstemious